独家
美国电子公司达成协议，运输和雇佣维吾尔族工人
这家纳斯达克上市公司向索尼、三星、LG、微软和其他科技和广播公司出售了设备和软件。根据该公司和钦州和新疆地方官员、政府通知和当地官方媒体的说法，作为正在进行的工人转移协议的一部分，该公司从遥远的西部地区新疆雇佣了至少400名维吾尔族工人。
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BSNL宣布六名官员被迫退休
被强制退休的军官是印度电信服务(ITS)干部，批次从1988年到1992年不等。
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钦州:美国遥控制造商环球电子公司该公司与新疆当局达成协议，将数百名维吾尔族工人运送到其在中国南部城市钦州的工厂，这是第一个被一些维权组织称为强迫劳动的美国公司参与转移项目的确认案例。
这家在纳斯达克上市的公司，已经将其设备和软件出售给索尼、三星、LG，微软根据该公司与钦州和新疆地方官员、政府通知和当地官方媒体的消息，以及其他科技和广播公司，该公司已经从遥远的西部地区新疆雇佣了至少400名维吾尔族工人，这是一项正在进行的工人转移协议的一部分。
在回答路透社关于转移的问题时，UEI发言人表示，该公司目前在钦州工厂雇用了365名维吾尔族工人。该公司表示，它对待他们与中国其他工人一样，并表示没有将任何员工视为强迫劳动。
索尼集团，三星电子三星公司、LG公司和微软公司都在社会责任报告中表示，他们禁止在供应链中使用强迫劳动，并正在采取措施防止这种情况发生。
索尼拒绝就具体供应商置评。索尼在给路透社的一份声明中表示，如果任何供应商被证实严重违反了其禁止使用强迫劳动的行为准则，那么“索尼将采取适当的反制措施，包括要求实施纠正措施，并终止与该供应商的业务。”
三星发言人说，该公司禁止供应商使用任何形式的强迫劳动，并要求所有的雇佣都是自由选择的。他拒绝就UEI置评。
LG没有回复记者的置评请求。
UEI发言人说，该公司承担工人从广西当地机场或火车站转移到钦州工厂的费用。钦州位于广西。她说，该公司不知道这些工人在新疆是如何接受培训的，也不知道谁支付他们到广西的交通费。
路透社无法采访工厂工人，因此无法确定他们是否被迫在UEI工作。然而，他们面临的条件具有强迫劳动标准定义的特征，例如在隔离环境下工作，在警察看守下工作，行动自由受到限制。
钦州政府通知和当地官方媒体的细节显示，UEI的维吾尔族工人在运输和在工厂的生活期间都受到警方的监视，他们在隔离的房间里吃饭和睡觉。
像这样的项目已经将数千名维吾尔族劳工转移到新疆和其他地方的工厂。大赦国际(Amnesty International)、人权观察(Human Rights Watch)和其他人权组织援引泄露的中国政府文件和被拘留者的证词说，这些项目是强制性的，是中国控制该地区维吾尔族人口占多数的整体计划的一部分。
在回应路透社的问题时，中国外交部没有提及UEI的雇佣问题，但否认中国存在强迫劳动。
“所谓的‘强迫劳动’完全是捏造的谎言，”外交部在一份声明中说。“在中国其他地区的新疆农民工和所有劳动者一样，依法享有就业的权利。签订劳动合同的权利、获得劳动报酬的权利、休息休假的权利、劳动安全卫生保护的权利、获得保险和福利的权利等合法权利。”
新疆当局没有回应记者的置评请求。
曾批评中国和其他几个国家政府纵容强迫劳动的美国国务院说，美国发现了“有关(中国)政府在新疆采用国家支持的强迫劳动做法的可靠报告，以及新疆以外这些群体成员被强迫劳动的情况。”
美国国务院发言人拒绝就UEI发表评论，但表示，根据美国人口贩运受害者保护法，故意从美国的强迫劳动中受益是一种犯罪。
该发言人在一份声明中说，该法律“将被告知道或不顾后果地无视该企业从事强迫劳动的事实，故意从参与企业中获得经济利益或任何有价值的东西的行为定为刑事犯罪。”该声明还说，法律规定在美国的个人或实体必须承担刑事责任，即使强迫劳动发生在另一个国家。
美国国务院让路透社向司法部(Justice Department)询问有关UEI的进一步评论;司法部没有回应。
根据1930年《关税法》第307条，全部或部分由强迫劳动制造的货物进口到美国也是犯罪。UEI对路透表示，其钦州工厂生产的“极少数”产品出口到美国。声明没有具体说明是谁购买了这些商品。
该法律由美国海关和边境保护局执行，该局有权没收进口货物，并对进口商展开刑事调查。海关说，对于是否有特定实体正在接受调查，它不予置评。
法律专家告诉路透社，由于很难证明违法行为，美国很少有针对海外虐待的强迫劳动起诉。人权组织联盟国际企业问责圆桌会议(International Corporate Accountability Roundtable)副主任大卫·麦基恩(David McKean)说，“根据目前的法律，当美国公司在美国境外建立、管理和从强迫劳动和其他侵犯人权的供应链中获利时，美国政府几乎无能为力。”
美国国会正在审议一项名为《维吾尔强迫劳动预防法案》(Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act)的立法，旨在加强限制，在法律上假定新疆生产的任何产品都是强迫劳动的结果，让进口商有责任证明自己不是。该法案的最新版本今年已在参议院获得通过，但尚未在众议院获得通过。
UEI发言人告诉路透社，该公司没有对其员工在新疆的培训地点和培训方式进行独立尽职调查。她说，这一安排是由与新疆政府合作的第三方机构审查的，该机构促成了这一交易。她拒绝透露这名特工的身份。路透社无法确定这名特工是独立的还是为新疆政府工作。
“职业”拘留营
据研究人员和联合国专家估计，自2017年以来，中国在一个集中营系统中拘留了100多万维吾尔人，这是中国所谓的反极端主义运动的一部分。中国称该地区的拘留营是职业教育和培训中心，并否认有关侵犯人权的指控。
根据官方媒体和当时的政府通知，有组织地将维吾尔族劳工转移到中国其他地区的做法可以追溯到21世纪初。新疆官员在7月下旬表示，该项目自2016年左右开始扩大，大规模拘留项目也是在那时开始的。
新疆官员7月底在北京的一次媒体发布会上对记者说，将工人调离新疆是普遍和自愿的。“新疆有很多适合人们技能的劳动密集型产业，”省政府发言人徐贵祥说。“他们去市场需要他们的地方。”
一些美国公司的供应商被指控使用从新疆运来的强迫劳工。智库澳大利亚战略政策研究所(ASPI)去年发布了一份报告，引用了中文文件、卫星图像分析和媒体报道，确定了83个与维吾尔族劳动力转移项目有关的品牌。不过，这些美国公司都没有直接参与这些交易。
除了远程控制技术，UEI还生产Ecolink品牌的家庭安全产品。该公司在30个国家拥有3800多名员工，市值约为6.7亿美元。其总部位于亚利桑那州的斯科茨代尔，但该公司在美国没有工厂。
该公司最大的两个投资者是贝莱德(BlackRock Inc .)管理的基金和Carillon Tower Advisers的子公司Eagle Asset Management。
贝莱德拒绝置评。Eagle资产管理公司的一名发言人表示:“自从意识到涉及我们一项投资的所谓劳工问题后，我们立即与该公司的高级领导层进行了接触，他们保证了劳工的薪酬、人道待遇和随意雇佣。”如果我们了解到情况并非如此，我们将采取适当行动。”
政府资助
新疆和广西政府官员向路透社证实，钦州政府的通知显示，在2019年5月至2020年2月期间，有六组工人从新疆被运送到UEI工厂。
2020年初，随着新型冠状病毒开始在中国传播，封锁令制造业陷入瘫痪，大约1300名维吾尔人从新疆南部和田地区被运送到中国。据中国官方媒体《经济日报》2020年2月援引官员的话称，他们被派往全国各地的工厂，以缓解劳动力短缺，并帮助工厂重新运转。
根据钦州政府的通知和和田的一名官员5月份对路透社的采访，警察护送的包机是由新疆政府资助的。
根据钦州政府网站、官方媒体和钦州官员发布的通知，UEI钦州工厂在2020年2月转移了100多名工人。这是根据大约9个月前UEI与新疆当局达成的协议进行的几笔转让之一。路透社无法确定这些工人的确切来源。
UEI的行动突显了中介在向企业提供维吾尔族工人方面发挥的作用。
UEI发言人证实，在第三方代理接洽后，该公司于2019年与新疆当局达成了一项协议。UEI说，雇佣工人并支付工资的是同一家中介，UEI没有与工人签订个人合同。
这位女发言人拒绝透露维吾尔族工人的工资，只是说他们和工厂里的其他人一样，“高于钦州当地的最低工资”。
据《经济日报》报道，2020年2月被送往UEI的工人预计每月收入约3000元(465美元)。而中国国家统计局的数据显示，广西制造业的平均工资为3719元。
UEI的维吾尔族员工是一个更大系统的一部分。新疆和田和喀什当局雇佣的两名劳务中介告诉路透社，他们各自设定的目标是每年将多达2万名维吾尔人安排到该地区以外的公司。
他们和另一名经纪人向路透社展示了今年已经完成的三份转会合同的副本。其中包括1月份的一份合同，将1000名工人运往湖北省孝感的一家汽车配件厂，这些工人在转岗前必须经过“政治筛选”。
这三名特工告诉路透社，单独的宿舍、警察护送和第三方特工监督的付款是这种转移的常规要素。
“维吾尔族工人是公司最方便的工人，”其中一名特工告诉路透社。“一切都由政府管理。”
维吾尔自治区的维吾尔人在整个劳动力供应链上都受到严密监视。
《经济日报》和钦州警方官方社交媒体账号于2020年2月28日在网上发布的照片显示，天亮前，工人们在和田市机场外排队登机。
据《钦州日报》在网上发布的一篇报道，新疆当局的一名经理对聚集在一起的工人说，“干活快，双手勤劳致富。”随附的照片显示，工人们穿着蓝色和红色的制服。
根据钦州一个警察部门的社交媒体账号和钦州政府的帖子，十几名身穿制服的警察护送这些工人穿过南宁伍许机场，上了公交车。这些巴士随后被警车护送至75英里(120公里)外的钦州UEI工厂。
分开宿舍，警察“教育”
在UEI的工厂里，大多数年轻的维吾尔族工人睡在单独的宿舍里，在新疆当局指派的经理的监督下，在隔离的食堂吃饭。非维吾尔族劳动者不受此类监测。根据官方媒体、当地警方的通告以及接受路透社采访的政府官员的说法，这些经理在维吾尔族工人受雇期间一直陪伴在他们身边。
UEI说，建立食堂是为了提供当地的维吾尔食物，并说它允许新疆工人“按照他们的意愿”共享宿舍。
根据UEI工厂所在地钦州区政府网站上的通知，这些维吾尔人必须参加钦州警方和司法当局在UEI工厂内举办的所谓“教育活动”，这是美国公司和地方当局之间协议的一部分。
路透社无法确定这些活动涉及什么。北京方面表示，法律教育是新疆拘禁营培训项目的一个关键方面。根据钦州政府的两份通知，UEI工厂的教育活动只适用于维吾尔族工人。
UEI发言人表示，UEI“不知道维吾尔人在其工厂参加的具体法律教育活动”。
“恐怖分子、新疆人和精神病人”
今年4月，两名路透社记者在当地公共假日期间访问了钦州工厂，当时工厂没有运行。在大院内可以看到穿着维吾尔族服装的妇女。
六名警察来了，后面跟着钦州外事办公室的官员代表团。官员们证实，维吾尔族劳工在这家工厂工作，该工厂由UEI的全资中国子公司Gemstar Technology运营。官员们表示，Gemstar率先制定了2019年5月的工人转移协议。官员们告诉路透社不要在工厂里拍摄维吾尔人的照片。
UEI所在的钦州地区在转移之前就有针对维吾尔人的监视措施。路透社看到的2018年6月的一份采购文件显示，警方购买了一个430万元(67万美元)的系统，用于建立“高风险”人员黑名单。其中包括“恐怖分子、新疆人和精神专利”。
该文件还列出了对“自动报警”的具体需求——当在该地区发现来自新疆的维族人时，一种通过内部消息系统向警方发送警报的计算机系统。
根据钦州警方官网上2020年3月的一篇帖子，UEI同意向警方提供有关工人的每日报告。
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<\/figure>By Cate Cadell<\/strong>QINZHOU: U.S. remote-control maker Universal Electronics Inc<\/a> told Reuters it struck a deal with authorities in Xinjiang to transport hundreds of Uyghur workers to its plant in the southern Chinese city of Qinzhou, the first confirmed instance of an American company participating in a transfer program described by some rights groups as forced labor.
The Nasdaq-listed firm, which has sold its equipment and software to Sony<\/a>, Samsung, LG<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a> and other tech and broadcast companies, has employed at least 400 Uyghur workers from the far-western region of Xinjiang as part of an ongoing worker-transfer agreement, according to the company and local officials in Qinzhou and Xinjiang, government notices and local state media.
<\/div><\/div>In at least one instance, Xinjiang authorities paid for a charter flight that delivered the Uyghur workers under police escort from Xinjiang's Hotan city - where the workers are from - to the UEI plant, according to officials in Qinzhou and Hotan interviewed by Reuters. The transfer is also described in a notice posted on an official Qinzhou police social media account in February 2020 at the time of the transfer.
Responding to Reuters' questions about the transfer, a UEI spokeswoman said the company currently employs 365 Uyghur workers at the Qinzhou plant. It said it treated them the same as other workers in China and said it did not regard any of its employees as forced labor.
Sony Group Corp, Samsung Electronics<\/a> Co Ltd, LG Corp and Microsoft Corp each say in social responsibility reports they prohibit the use of forced labor in their supply chains and are taking steps to prevent it.
Sony declined to comment on specific suppliers. In a statement to Reuters, it said if any supplier is confirmed to have committed a major violation of its code of conduct, which prohibits the use of forced labor, then \"Sony will take appropriate countermeasures including request for implementing corrective actions and termination of business with such supplier.\"
Responding to Reuters' questions about the transfer, a UEI spokeswoman said the company currently employs 365 Uyghur workers at the Qinzhou plant. It said it treated them the same as other workers in China and said it did not regard any of its employees as forced labor.
Sony Group Corp, Samsung Electronics<\/a> Co Ltd, LG Corp and Microsoft Corp each say in social responsibility reports they prohibit the use of forced labor in their supply chains and are taking steps to prevent it.
Sony declined to comment on specific suppliers. In a statement to Reuters, it said if any supplier is confirmed to have committed a major violation of its code of conduct, which prohibits the use of forced labor, then \"Sony will take appropriate countermeasures including request for implementing corrective actions and termination of business with such supplier.\"
<\/div><\/div>A Microsoft spokesperson said the company takes action against any supplier that violates its code of conduct, up to termination of its business relationship, but that UEI was no longer an active supplier. \"We have not used hardware from the supplier since 2016 and have had no association with the factory in question,\" the spokesperson said.
A Samsung spokesman said the company prohibits its suppliers from using all forms of forced labor and requires that all employment be freely chosen. He declined to comment on UEI.
LG did not reply to requests for comment.
The UEI spokeswoman said the company covers the cost of the transfer of workers to its Qinzhou plant from a local airport or train station in Guangxi, the region in which Qinzhou is located. She said the company does not know how the workers are trained in Xinjiang or who pays for their transport to Guangxi.
Reuters was unable to interview plant workers and therefore was not able to determine whether they are being compelled to work at UEI. The conditions they face, however, bear hallmarks of standard definitions of forced labor, such as working in isolation, under police guard and with restricted freedom of movement.
UEI's Uyghur workers are under surveillance by police during their transportation and life at the factory, where they eat and sleep in segregated quarters, according to details in Qinzhou government notices and local state media.
Programs like this have transferred thousands of Uyghur laborers to factories in Xinjiang and elsewhere. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups, citing leaked Chinese government documents and testimony from detainees who say they were forced into such jobs, say the programs are coercive and part of China's overall plan to control the majority-Uyghur population in the region.
In response to Reuters' questions, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not address employment at UEI, but denied forced labor exists anywhere in the country.
\"This so-called 'forced labor' is a completely fabricated lie,\" the ministry said in a statement. \"Xinjiang migrant workers in other parts of China, like all workers, enjoy the right to employment in accordance with the law. The right to sign a labor contract, the right to labor remuneration, the right to rest and vacation, the right to labor safety and health protection, the right to obtain insurance and welfare rights and other legal rights.\"
Xinjiang authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. Department of State, which has criticized China and several other governments for condoning forced labor, said the United States has found \"credible reports of state-sponsored forced labor practices employed by the (Chinese) government in Xinjiang, as well as situations of forced labor involving members of these groups outside Xinjiang.\"
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on UEI, but said wittingly benefiting from forced labor in the United States was a crime under the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
That law \"criminalizes the act of knowingly benefiting, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture, where the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that the venture engaged in forced labor,\" the spokesperson said in a statement. The law imposes criminal liability on individuals or entities present in the United States, the statement added, even when the forced labor occurs in another country.
The State Department referred Reuters to the Justice Department for further comment on UEI; Justice did not respond.
The import of goods into the United States made wholly or in part by forced labor is also a crime under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930. UEI told Reuters \"a very small quantity\" of products made at its Qinzhou factory are exported to the United States. It did not specify who purchases the goods.
The law is enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which can seize imports and start a criminal investigation of the importer. Customs said it does not comment on whether specific entities are under investigation.
Legal experts told Reuters there have been very few forced labor prosecutions in the United States over abuses overseas, given the difficulty of proving an offense. \"As the law currently stands, there's very little that the U.S. government can do to hold American companies accountable when they build, manage and profit from supply chains that engage in forced labor and other human rights abuses outside the United States,\" said David McKean, deputy director of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable, a coalition of rights groups.
Legislation before the U.S. Congress, called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, was designed to toughen up restrictions by creating the legal presumption that any products made in Xinjiang are the result of forced labor, putting the burden on importers to prove they are not. The latest version of the legislation was passed by the Senate this year but has yet to pass the House of Representatives.
The UEI spokeswoman told Reuters the company does not conduct independent due diligence on where and how its workers are trained in Xinjiang. She said the arrangement is vetted by a third-party agent working with the Xinjiang government, who brokered the deal. She declined to identify that agent. Reuters could not determine if the agent is independent or works for the Xinjiang government.
'VOCATIONAL' INTERNMENT CAMPS<\/strong>
China has detained over 1 million Uyghurs in a system of camps since 2017 as part of what it calls an anti-extremism campaign, according to estimates by researchers and United Nations experts. China describes internment camps in the region as vocational education and training centers and denies accusations of rights abuses.
Organized transfers of Uyghur laborers to other parts of China date back to the early 2000s, according to state media and government notices from the time. The program has expanded since about 2016, Xinjiang officials said in late July, around the time the mass internment program began.
Xinjiang officials told reporters at a Beijing media conference in late July that transfers of workers outside of Xinjiang are common and voluntary. \"There are many labor-intensive industries that fit the skills of people in Xinjiang,\" said Xu Guixiang, a spokesman for the provincial government. \"They go where the market needs them.\"
Suppliers for some U.S. companies have been accused of using forced laborers transported from Xinjiang. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a think tank, last year released a report identifying 83 brands linked to Uyghur labor transfer programs, citing Chinese-language documents, satellite-imagery analysis and media reports. None of the U.S. companies were directly involved in the transfers, however.
Aside from remote-control technology, UEI also makes home security products under the Ecolink brand. It has more than 3,800 employees in 30 countries and a market value of about $670 million. Its headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona, but the company has no plants in the United States.
The company's two largest investors are funds run by BlackRock Inc and Eagle Asset Management, an affiliate of Carillon Tower Advisers.
BlackRock declined to comment. A spokesman for Eagle Asset Management said: \"Since becoming aware of purported labor issues involving one of our investments, we immediately approached the company's senior leadership and they have provided assurances that labor is paid, treated humanely and employed at-will. Should we learn otherwise, we will take appropriate action.\"
GOVERNMENT FUNDING<\/strong>
Six groups of workers were transported from Xinjiang to the UEI factory between May 2019 and February 2020, according to Qinzhou government notices, confirmed to Reuters by government officials in Xinjiang and Guangxi.
In early 2020, as the new coronavirus began to spread in China and lockdowns crippled manufacturing, about 1,300 Uyghurs were transported from Xinjiang's southern Hotan region. They were sent to factories around the country to alleviate labor shortages and help get them running again, according to officials cited by Chinese state media outlet Economic Daily in February 2020.
The police-escorted charter flights were funded by the Xinjiang government, according to Qinzhou government notices and an official in Hotan who spoke to Reuters in May.
UEI's Qinzhou factory took more than 100 workers in the February 2020 transfer, according to notices on the Qinzhou government website, state media and Qinzhou officials. That was one of several transfers made under an agreement struck some nine months earlier between UEI and Xinjiang authorities. Reuters could not determine exactly where the workers came from.
UEI's operation underscores the role played by agents in supplying companies with Uyghur workers.
The UEI spokeswoman confirmed the company entered into an agreement with Xinjiang authorities in 2019 after being approached by the third-party agent. UEI said the same agent hires and pays the workers and that UEI does not sign individual contracts with the workers.
The spokeswoman declined to disclose what the Uyghur workers are paid, beyond saying that they receive the same as others at the facility, which is \"higher than Qinzhou local minimum wage.\"
The Economic Daily reported that workers sent in UEI's February 2020 transfer are expected to make around 3,000 yuan ($465) a month. That compares with the average manufacturing wage in the province of Guangxi of 3,719 yuan, according to China's national bureau of statistics.
UEI's Uyghur employees are part of a much bigger system. Two separate labor agents hired by Hotan and Kashgar authorities in Xinjiang told Reuters they had each been set targets of placing as many as 20,000 Uyghurs annually with companies outside the region.
They, and one other agent, showed Reuters copies of three contracts for transfers already completed this year. These included a January contract to transport 1,000 workers to an auto parts factory in Xiaogan, Hubei province, who had to undergo \"political screening\" prior to transfer.
The three agents told Reuters that separate dormitories, police escorts and payments overseen by third-party agents are routine elements in such transfers.
\"Uyghur workers are the most convenient workers for companies,\" one of the agents told Reuters. \"Everything is managed by the government.\"
The Uyghurs of UEI are kept under tight watch all along this labor-supply chain.
Photographs published online by the Economic Daily and an official social media account of Qinzhou police, dated Feb. 28, 2020, show the workers lining up before dawn outside the airport in the city of Hotan before taking the flight.
\"Get to work quickly and get rich through hard work using both hands,\" one manager employed by Xinjiang authorities told the gathered workers, according to an account published online by the Qinzhou Daily. Accompanying photos show the workers dressed in blue and red uniforms.
More than a dozen uniformed police officers escorted the same workers through the Nanning Wuxu airport and onto buses, according to posts on a social media account of a Qinzhou police unit and a post by the Qinzhou government. The buses were then escorted by police vehicles to the UEI factory in Qinzhou, some 75 miles (120 km) away.
SEPARATE DORMS, POLICE 'EDUCATION'<\/strong>
The mostly young Uyghur laborers at UEI's plant sleep in separate dormitories and eat in a segregated canteen under the watch of managers assigned by Xinjiang authorities. Non-Uyghur laborers are not subject to such monitoring. The managers stay with the Uyghur workers throughout their employment, according to state media, local police notices and government officials who spoke to Reuters.
UEI said the canteens were established to provide local Uyghur food, and says it allows Xinjiang workers to share dormitories \"as they wish.\"
The Uyghurs must participate in what are described as \"education activities\" run by Qinzhou police and judicial authorities within the UEI facility, as part of the agreement between the U.S. firm and local authorities, according to notices on the government website of the Qinzhou district where UEI's factory is located.
Reuters could not determine what those activities involve. Beijing has said that legal education is a key aspect of the training programs in Xinjiang's camps. The education activities in UEI's factory only apply to the Uyghur workers, according to two Qinzhou government notices.
The UEI spokeswoman said UEI is \"not aware of specific legal education activities\" that Uyghurs take part in at its plant.
'TERRORISTS, XINJIANG PEOPLE AND MENTAL PATIENTS'<\/strong>
Two Reuters journalists visited the Qinzhou factory in April during a local public holiday when the plant was not running. Women in Uyghur ethnic dress were visible inside the compound.
Half a dozen police arrived, followed by a delegation of officials from the Qinzhou Foreign Affairs Office. The officials confirmed that Uyghur laborers worked in the factory, which is run by UEI's wholly owned China subsidiary Gemstar Technology. The officials said Gemstar had taken the lead in setting up the May 2019 agreement to transfer workers. The officials told Reuters not to take photos of Uyghurs in the factory.
The district of Qinzhou where UEI is located has surveillance measures targeting Uyghurs that predate the transfers. A June 2018 procurement document seen by Reuters shows police there purchased a 4.3 million yuan ($670,000) system that establishes blacklists of \"high-risk\" people. These include \"terrorists, Xinjiang people and mental patents.\"
The document also lists a specific need for \"automatic alarms\" - a computer system that sends alerts via an internal messaging system to police when Uyghurs from Xinjiang are detected in the area.
According to a March 2020 post on the official Qinzhou police website, UEI agreed to provide daily reports on the workers to police.
<\/div><\/div>
A Samsung spokesman said the company prohibits its suppliers from using all forms of forced labor and requires that all employment be freely chosen. He declined to comment on UEI.
LG did not reply to requests for comment.
The UEI spokeswoman said the company covers the cost of the transfer of workers to its Qinzhou plant from a local airport or train station in Guangxi, the region in which Qinzhou is located. She said the company does not know how the workers are trained in Xinjiang or who pays for their transport to Guangxi.
Reuters was unable to interview plant workers and therefore was not able to determine whether they are being compelled to work at UEI. The conditions they face, however, bear hallmarks of standard definitions of forced labor, such as working in isolation, under police guard and with restricted freedom of movement.
UEI's Uyghur workers are under surveillance by police during their transportation and life at the factory, where they eat and sleep in segregated quarters, according to details in Qinzhou government notices and local state media.
Programs like this have transferred thousands of Uyghur laborers to factories in Xinjiang and elsewhere. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups, citing leaked Chinese government documents and testimony from detainees who say they were forced into such jobs, say the programs are coercive and part of China's overall plan to control the majority-Uyghur population in the region.
In response to Reuters' questions, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not address employment at UEI, but denied forced labor exists anywhere in the country.
\"This so-called 'forced labor' is a completely fabricated lie,\" the ministry said in a statement. \"Xinjiang migrant workers in other parts of China, like all workers, enjoy the right to employment in accordance with the law. The right to sign a labor contract, the right to labor remuneration, the right to rest and vacation, the right to labor safety and health protection, the right to obtain insurance and welfare rights and other legal rights.\"
Xinjiang authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. Department of State, which has criticized China and several other governments for condoning forced labor, said the United States has found \"credible reports of state-sponsored forced labor practices employed by the (Chinese) government in Xinjiang, as well as situations of forced labor involving members of these groups outside Xinjiang.\"
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on UEI, but said wittingly benefiting from forced labor in the United States was a crime under the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
That law \"criminalizes the act of knowingly benefiting, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture, where the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that the venture engaged in forced labor,\" the spokesperson said in a statement. The law imposes criminal liability on individuals or entities present in the United States, the statement added, even when the forced labor occurs in another country.
The State Department referred Reuters to the Justice Department for further comment on UEI; Justice did not respond.
The import of goods into the United States made wholly or in part by forced labor is also a crime under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930. UEI told Reuters \"a very small quantity\" of products made at its Qinzhou factory are exported to the United States. It did not specify who purchases the goods.
The law is enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which can seize imports and start a criminal investigation of the importer. Customs said it does not comment on whether specific entities are under investigation.
Legal experts told Reuters there have been very few forced labor prosecutions in the United States over abuses overseas, given the difficulty of proving an offense. \"As the law currently stands, there's very little that the U.S. government can do to hold American companies accountable when they build, manage and profit from supply chains that engage in forced labor and other human rights abuses outside the United States,\" said David McKean, deputy director of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable, a coalition of rights groups.
Legislation before the U.S. Congress, called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, was designed to toughen up restrictions by creating the legal presumption that any products made in Xinjiang are the result of forced labor, putting the burden on importers to prove they are not. The latest version of the legislation was passed by the Senate this year but has yet to pass the House of Representatives.
The UEI spokeswoman told Reuters the company does not conduct independent due diligence on where and how its workers are trained in Xinjiang. She said the arrangement is vetted by a third-party agent working with the Xinjiang government, who brokered the deal. She declined to identify that agent. Reuters could not determine if the agent is independent or works for the Xinjiang government.
'VOCATIONAL' INTERNMENT CAMPS<\/strong>
China has detained over 1 million Uyghurs in a system of camps since 2017 as part of what it calls an anti-extremism campaign, according to estimates by researchers and United Nations experts. China describes internment camps in the region as vocational education and training centers and denies accusations of rights abuses.
Organized transfers of Uyghur laborers to other parts of China date back to the early 2000s, according to state media and government notices from the time. The program has expanded since about 2016, Xinjiang officials said in late July, around the time the mass internment program began.
Xinjiang officials told reporters at a Beijing media conference in late July that transfers of workers outside of Xinjiang are common and voluntary. \"There are many labor-intensive industries that fit the skills of people in Xinjiang,\" said Xu Guixiang, a spokesman for the provincial government. \"They go where the market needs them.\"
Suppliers for some U.S. companies have been accused of using forced laborers transported from Xinjiang. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a think tank, last year released a report identifying 83 brands linked to Uyghur labor transfer programs, citing Chinese-language documents, satellite-imagery analysis and media reports. None of the U.S. companies were directly involved in the transfers, however.
Aside from remote-control technology, UEI also makes home security products under the Ecolink brand. It has more than 3,800 employees in 30 countries and a market value of about $670 million. Its headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona, but the company has no plants in the United States.
The company's two largest investors are funds run by BlackRock Inc and Eagle Asset Management, an affiliate of Carillon Tower Advisers.
BlackRock declined to comment. A spokesman for Eagle Asset Management said: \"Since becoming aware of purported labor issues involving one of our investments, we immediately approached the company's senior leadership and they have provided assurances that labor is paid, treated humanely and employed at-will. Should we learn otherwise, we will take appropriate action.\"
GOVERNMENT FUNDING<\/strong>
Six groups of workers were transported from Xinjiang to the UEI factory between May 2019 and February 2020, according to Qinzhou government notices, confirmed to Reuters by government officials in Xinjiang and Guangxi.
In early 2020, as the new coronavirus began to spread in China and lockdowns crippled manufacturing, about 1,300 Uyghurs were transported from Xinjiang's southern Hotan region. They were sent to factories around the country to alleviate labor shortages and help get them running again, according to officials cited by Chinese state media outlet Economic Daily in February 2020.
The police-escorted charter flights were funded by the Xinjiang government, according to Qinzhou government notices and an official in Hotan who spoke to Reuters in May.
UEI's Qinzhou factory took more than 100 workers in the February 2020 transfer, according to notices on the Qinzhou government website, state media and Qinzhou officials. That was one of several transfers made under an agreement struck some nine months earlier between UEI and Xinjiang authorities. Reuters could not determine exactly where the workers came from.
UEI's operation underscores the role played by agents in supplying companies with Uyghur workers.
The UEI spokeswoman confirmed the company entered into an agreement with Xinjiang authorities in 2019 after being approached by the third-party agent. UEI said the same agent hires and pays the workers and that UEI does not sign individual contracts with the workers.
The spokeswoman declined to disclose what the Uyghur workers are paid, beyond saying that they receive the same as others at the facility, which is \"higher than Qinzhou local minimum wage.\"
The Economic Daily reported that workers sent in UEI's February 2020 transfer are expected to make around 3,000 yuan ($465) a month. That compares with the average manufacturing wage in the province of Guangxi of 3,719 yuan, according to China's national bureau of statistics.
UEI's Uyghur employees are part of a much bigger system. Two separate labor agents hired by Hotan and Kashgar authorities in Xinjiang told Reuters they had each been set targets of placing as many as 20,000 Uyghurs annually with companies outside the region.
They, and one other agent, showed Reuters copies of three contracts for transfers already completed this year. These included a January contract to transport 1,000 workers to an auto parts factory in Xiaogan, Hubei province, who had to undergo \"political screening\" prior to transfer.
The three agents told Reuters that separate dormitories, police escorts and payments overseen by third-party agents are routine elements in such transfers.
\"Uyghur workers are the most convenient workers for companies,\" one of the agents told Reuters. \"Everything is managed by the government.\"
The Uyghurs of UEI are kept under tight watch all along this labor-supply chain.
Photographs published online by the Economic Daily and an official social media account of Qinzhou police, dated Feb. 28, 2020, show the workers lining up before dawn outside the airport in the city of Hotan before taking the flight.
\"Get to work quickly and get rich through hard work using both hands,\" one manager employed by Xinjiang authorities told the gathered workers, according to an account published online by the Qinzhou Daily. Accompanying photos show the workers dressed in blue and red uniforms.
More than a dozen uniformed police officers escorted the same workers through the Nanning Wuxu airport and onto buses, according to posts on a social media account of a Qinzhou police unit and a post by the Qinzhou government. The buses were then escorted by police vehicles to the UEI factory in Qinzhou, some 75 miles (120 km) away.
SEPARATE DORMS, POLICE 'EDUCATION'<\/strong>
The mostly young Uyghur laborers at UEI's plant sleep in separate dormitories and eat in a segregated canteen under the watch of managers assigned by Xinjiang authorities. Non-Uyghur laborers are not subject to such monitoring. The managers stay with the Uyghur workers throughout their employment, according to state media, local police notices and government officials who spoke to Reuters.
UEI said the canteens were established to provide local Uyghur food, and says it allows Xinjiang workers to share dormitories \"as they wish.\"
The Uyghurs must participate in what are described as \"education activities\" run by Qinzhou police and judicial authorities within the UEI facility, as part of the agreement between the U.S. firm and local authorities, according to notices on the government website of the Qinzhou district where UEI's factory is located.
Reuters could not determine what those activities involve. Beijing has said that legal education is a key aspect of the training programs in Xinjiang's camps. The education activities in UEI's factory only apply to the Uyghur workers, according to two Qinzhou government notices.
The UEI spokeswoman said UEI is \"not aware of specific legal education activities\" that Uyghurs take part in at its plant.
'TERRORISTS, XINJIANG PEOPLE AND MENTAL PATIENTS'<\/strong>
Two Reuters journalists visited the Qinzhou factory in April during a local public holiday when the plant was not running. Women in Uyghur ethnic dress were visible inside the compound.
Half a dozen police arrived, followed by a delegation of officials from the Qinzhou Foreign Affairs Office. The officials confirmed that Uyghur laborers worked in the factory, which is run by UEI's wholly owned China subsidiary Gemstar Technology. The officials said Gemstar had taken the lead in setting up the May 2019 agreement to transfer workers. The officials told Reuters not to take photos of Uyghurs in the factory.
The district of Qinzhou where UEI is located has surveillance measures targeting Uyghurs that predate the transfers. A June 2018 procurement document seen by Reuters shows police there purchased a 4.3 million yuan ($670,000) system that establishes blacklists of \"high-risk\" people. These include \"terrorists, Xinjiang people and mental patents.\"
The document also lists a specific need for \"automatic alarms\" - a computer system that sends alerts via an internal messaging system to police when Uyghurs from Xinjiang are detected in the area.
According to a March 2020 post on the official Qinzhou police website, UEI agreed to provide daily reports on the workers to police.
<\/div><\/div>
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